Odd Beginning
by mihairu7
Summary: The night is calm, the breeze is soft and the stage is set. Naruto has but one objective: ask Hinata out on a date and make it memorable. Okay, that was two objectives, but with so many butterflies in the blonde hero's stomach, should he even worry about something as menial when he was about to take a girl on an actual DATE?
1. Chapter 1

"You've gotta be kidding me Naruto. A paintball event? What are you, ten?"

"What's wrong with a paintball event?"

"Well for starters, do you want her to be hit by dozens of solid-state paint and end up with bruises only for you to say that this was the date? She'd kick your sorry behind without a second thought whether she's head over heels for you or not, and she definitely won't hold back with that new jutsu she's been testing."

"You really think she'd do that?"

"You'd be the perfect target practice if you went ahead with this plan."

"Maybe I could borrow The First Hokage's armour. It _would_ absorb most of the damage… right?"

"Oh my God, you're an idiot!"

"Come on Kiba, I'm clueless about this stuff and you know it!"

Kiba sighed for the umpteenth time that hour while discussing how to help Naruto with his date problem. It had been annoying him to no end, but Naruto was his friend and was secretly glad that the blonde hero had identified the obvious Hyuuga in the room sooner rather than later. And so here he was, currently brainstorming with the blonde about possible options for his and Hinata's date.

Naruto had finally realized that Hinata had feelings for him two months after the Fourth Shinobi War. After he'd finished his happy dance at the fact that someone cared that deeply for him and got Sasuke to calm him down with a strong sleep-inducing genjutsu, Naruto had begun to figure out a way to arrange a date between them but was having no such luck, hence the reason he and Kiba were having this conversation.

Unfortunately for Kiba, Naruto had as much knowledge of going on dates as Lee had fashion sense, so he knew this was going to be a long day. Kiba looked at his blonde comrade who was currently scratching the back of his head while looking at restaurants available for booking, muttering about thinking like a girl and acting like a guy at the same time. Kiba ran a hand through his hair with another sigh.

"Look, why don't we take a small break? We won't resolve anything by burning off any brain juice we have left on bookings of all things," he said handing his friend a glass of ice-tea and sitting of the floor next to Naruto's coffee table.

"Heh, I guess you're right," Naruto replied taking a long sip from his glass and setting it down on the table before stretching his back and breaking his neck from the tense muscles, "I'm just worried is all. This is literally the first date I've ever been on and I hardly know three points of what girls like for a date as well as I know how Kakashi-sensei eats through his mask."

They both looked at the pieces of paper in front of them that possessed the various restaurants and dinner places open for booking, "So this is what a wedding planner feels like, huh?" Kiba commented absent mindedly as Naruto nodded dumbly groaning at the black and white in front of him.

"Well at least they've got more experience than we do", Naruto picking up his ice tea.

"Here, here!" He clinked glasses with Kiba as they both took long gulps of the cool beverage before Kiba turned to him with a wide-eyed look.

"What if we're looking at this all wrong though?"

"How? We've been staring at all the possible restaurants in the Leaf with no luck at all."

"That's what I'm getting to," He said looking pulling out his wallet and taking out a folded pamphlet and handing it to Naruto.

"The Kokuran Carnival?" Naruto asked frowning before reading the cursive print on the pamphlet, " 'A place to get away from the village for a while, possessing a calm air and attractive booths, the Great Nations Shinobi and civilians have officially announced it to be the pinnacle of enjoyment. It has almost everything that can "woo" your friends and possibly your date. Come one, come all, come hither! As we welcome you to a carnival of intrigue.' "

The blonde blinked and turned to stare at his feral-looking friend, unable to prevent the corners of his mouth lifting into a grin.

"I take it you're satisfied now?"

"Kiba you're a genius!" He shouted, bringing in his friend for a bro-hug and laughing loudly.

"No problem, now you just need to tell her that the date is set for tomorrow at 10."

"Um…"

Kiba looked at Naruto suspiciously, "What is it _now_, Naruto?"

"I uh… didn't ask Hinata out yet…"

"You didn't what!?"

This was going to be a long day after all…

* * *

**Hello, it's good to be here again. Thank all of you who've read, liked, favorited and commented on my other works. It really does mean a lot to me. Also, please note, I'm not scared to be flamed as it only helps me improve as a writer. So if you would in future should you have an option: Flame away! **

**The remaining chapters to come should all be about 5K in length, so for those of you that love a good long chapter, this fanfic is definitely for you (as far as word count goes that is.)****Hope you enjoyed.**


	2. The Date

**Chapter**** 2- The**** Date**

Naruto brushed away a strand of his spiky locks aside from his eyes as he readied a bouquet of flowers in his hands for Hinata. After a whole one and a half hour chewing from Kiba about not using his head properly and proper preparation, he was fairly terrified of failing his mission of asking Hinata out and now confessing his feelings to her. He was especially horrified at the prospect of getting burning urine sprayed in his eyes by Akamaru if he failed to even organize for Hinata to show up at the Academy, who knew Kiba had a persuasive side to him?

_Alright, just calm down. Just ask Hinata out to the Kokuran Carnival and there was the date sorted… how hard could that be? _

Naruto was subconsciously berating himself for what he was about to do, truth be told, he was absolutely nervous to ask out Hinata! It didn't matter that she was very understanding and would most likely say yes to him since she was head-over-heels for him as he knew, but he was more worried about the prospect of actually asking a_ girl_ out on a _date._ Naruto Uzumaki, the famed and loved Shinobi of the Five Great Nations, the son of the Fourth Hokage and the container for the Nine-tailed Fox, the hero that brought down Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki and even went as far as to stop the resurrected likes of Kaguya Ostustuki. He could defeat powerful ninja and battle entire armies of evil beasts but had a terrible fear of asking out a _girl_ on a date? It sounded almost comical to him.

"Just keep your cool and relax; its Hinata were talking about here. How hard could it be to talk to Hinata? The sweet, quiet, kind-"

Just then as Naruto was waiting under a tree for his friend, the most amazing sight caught his eye. Hinata was wearing an extravagant kimono with a dark purple silk obi tied around her waist with the embroidered design of the Leaf on the right shoulder, while the hem carried a small spiral pattern design with emerald embedded stones. Her hair was tied up in a low pony-tail that revealed her smooth porcelain neckline and made her soft lavender eyes glow in the afternoon sun. The kimono showed off her flawless figure with her curves clearly visible. To Naruto, she looked like a snow Goddess that just came to visit Summer.

Naruto was at a loss for words with his jaw dropped and the look on his face identical to that of the perverted Ebisu that was currently having a nosebleed while staring at the exact same sight as Naruto, before having one of his genin, probably Konohamaru, smack him upside the head and drag him into one of the nearby classrooms muttering about having perverted sensei's and not interrupting the boss from his visit with _his _lady.

Hinata was still unaware of Naruto's presence and began to sit at the only swing that occupied the Academy's playground under a large tree. Naruto started panting at the current situation and wished he could reverse what he had just said. This was going to be way more difficult for him than he expected, and he was even more surprised that she didn't notice him standing behind the same tree that carried the swing she was sitting on.

_Oh my God, how the hell am I going to do this now_, Naruto thought to himself getting worried, _how am I going to ask her out to the Carnival now that she looks so… so…_

Naruto breathed out the word "beautiful" quietly to himself as he prepared for an embarrassing encounter. With a deep breath mustering, up almost all the courage he had left, he walked up the Hinata until he was behind her before saying casually and with as much calmness as possible:

"So, I was supposed to meet my friend, Hinata at this spot to invite her to this awesome place called the Kokuran Carnival," Hinata turned her and met his gaze, her porcelain cheeks burning red at the sight of him. "But instead I come across this beauty dressed in gems that looks exactly like _my_ Hinata. You wouldn't happen to be she, would you?"

He saw Hinata giggle at his comment and look at him with another blush, "Good afternoon to you as well N-Naruto."

Naruto grinned back and walked around her so that he now stood in front of her. He raised the bouquet in his hands and gave them a deep sniff, sighing loudly at the pleasant scent and closed his eyes, "Man, these lilacs sure do smell wonderful," he opened his eyes and lowered them to Hinata, "But they're not for me however."

Hinata blushed again, accepting the bouquet and holding them close to her chest, "T-Thank you Naruto. They're l-lovely."

"My pleasure," he replied looking at her with wonder in his eyes, "Wow. Hinata you look stunning, what's the occasion?"

Hinata's eyes widened with another deep blush, "O-Oh, thank you… I had to attend a c-clan m-meeting earlier and we w-were asked to dress formally."

"Well then I'm asking the Hyuuga clan to make you dress formally for everything when I become Hokage. You're looking really hot!" He replied earning him another blush for his efforts, "But anyways, thanks for meeting me here Hinata."

"Y-Yes, you were s-saying you w-wanted t-to ask m-me out to t-the K-K-Kokuran C-Carnival?" Hinata inwardly cursed herself for her stuttering but still she couldn't believe her ears. Naruto Uzumaki asking her out on a _date_?! She had to calm her breathing before she fainted! Hinata had dreamed of this moment for _years_ and always imagined being whisked away on their first date like he was a kidnapper. Truth be told, Hinata would literally jump into Naruto's arms if he was coming to kidnap her. She could feel her heart beating even faster at the prospect of that happening, she was dreaming!

"Well… I uh… yeah. "

Hinata blinked at him with a crimson blush and her eyes widened.

_I'm not dreaming, Naruto just asked me out on a date! OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE!!!_

"Y-Y-Yes Naruto, I'd like that very much," she said still blushing crimson.

"Great!" He exclaimed with an awkward laugh. This had gone better than he'd anticipated. "But I mean, you wouldn't have come out all this way to say no and stuff, besides, you already coming here means you kinda already agreed soitskindofalreadyadonedealnotakebacsies!" he mumbled out and Hinata giggled quietly at his antics. He was the Savoir of the World but he was still the Naruto she came to love.

Naruto inwardly sighed in relief and started a parade in his head at what was happening right now, "Alright then, cool." He cleared his throat and looking at Hinata, "Pick you up at around ten?"

"Sure, I'll be r-ready by t-t-then…"

Both of them mentally jumped for joy at the way things had turned out so far. Hinata was hysterical with her mental hyperventilation and Naruto uncontrollable with his subconscious dancing. He looked at the swing Hinata was sitting on and frowned tilting his head to the side which Hinata noticed and began to feel powerless when looking at those deep cerulean pools of his, "You know, I remember this swing," Naruto said looking up at Hinata.

"You do?"

"Yeah, this was the swing I used to sit on during the Academy days at break time. I sat on it so often that it literally became my swing."

"O-Oh…s-so, would you like me get off?" She asked innocently.

"What? Get off? Heck no, if anything the person who sits on _my_ swing deserves a ride by me, I say," he replied walking behind her and putting both hands on her shoulders.

Hinata froze at his touch; in fact, she was even stopped from thinking when he touched her. Her blush intensified, and she began to stutter, "A-A-Are you s-sure Naruto? I mean I don't w-want you t-to treat me l-like a q-q-queen or anythin-"

"Relax Hinata!" Naruto stated pushing her forward and back on the swing, "If I say I'm going to give you a ride, I'm gonna give you one, not because you're royalty but because you're sitting on _my _swing, and any friend of mine that sits on it deserves a ride. I'm a generous swing landlord, I like to think."

"A-Alright t-then."

"But if it's Chogi then I'm refusing bluntly."

"N-Naruto!"

"What, I'm serious! He's a great pal but if he breaks it, I can't give rides to my friends anymore, plus he'd have to build me another one."

And they continued, engrossed in conversation. Each enjoying the others compan: Hinata enjoying the ride, and Naruto enjoying giving the ride and the feeling of Hinata's smooth skin against his slightly calloused hands. They carried on until it was dark and Hinata was laughing hysterically at a joke Naruto made at Jiraiya's past experience of perving on Tsunade at the hot springs during a mission to visit Gaara about the Sand's export of some really aged sake to Konoha that Tsunade was more than happy to oblige in taking; even if it was with her perverted teammate.

Both were too busy to even notice the sun completely disappear because they were too busy laughing, talking about past experiences that were funny to them and making each other have rides on the swing until Iruka just happened to be walking passed the school on his way home that he caught notice of his two graduated students and stopped, shifting a bundle of practical tests in his arms that he had decided to take home to mark, and smiled with a pleasant feeling in his heart.

_Well those two finally started talking to one another, what a relief. If only Master Jiraiya and Lord Fourth would be here to see Naruto's happiness just by a swing ride and a friend to talk to, they would be happy to see the peace in his eyes and the calmness of his smiles._

Iruka stood there watching Naruto and Hinata carry on with their fun times and himself smiling again at the peacefulness of the pair he saw before him. If anyone had to walk by and witness the scene before him, they too would smile at how young people could still laugh and be happy even after the events that had occurred a few months back with the numerous casualties and comatose Shinobi still in hospital. Iruka then looked at Hinata and sighed to himself. She had changed drastically from the low self-esteemed and lonely girl he had taught all those years ago.

_And of course Hinata… I'm glad I can see that she's got a brighter smile on her features than the scared look she would give all those years ago whenever I asked what was wrong. There was no doubt that she would be happier now that Naruto was in her life and that they've become a close pair of friends. I'm happy for her and now I can sleep better knowing that my shy student is carefree and lively. Never mind that she lost her cousin and my student prodigy during the war, it's a relief that she can still smile and feel happy after all those horrific things that happened. Once more I'm glad that she can share it with Naruto, my one and only favorite out of any other I've ever taught before._

Before Iruka could cry tears of joy and be seen as a creepy Academy teacher spying on his passed students, he decided to leave with a light heart and an even happier feeling in his belly. Just before he left, he frowned.

_Wait, if these two are more than eight feet from one another and are talking like old drinking buddies, then that means I won the bet with Lady Tsunade and that means I have a very hefty sum of Ryu to collect from her…_

And with a bigger grin, Iruka changed course for the Hokage Tower with the intent of collecting his winnings and rubbing it in his Hokage's face.

"Hey, do you get the feeling that someone was watching us just now?" Naruto asked, stopping his swinging and looking off into the distance. He also had the sudden urge to sneeze for some odd reason, was he coming down with something?

"Hold on a sec," Hinata replied activating her Byakugan to see in the dark, "No, s-sorry Naruto but t-there's no one here besides us."

"Hmm…" He said standing and frowning, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say old Pervy-Sage was looking at us."

"N-Naruto?"

"What, you don't think it was him? That old perv's probably spying and trying to come up with new ideas for another one of his pervy books," Naruto said frowning in disgust, "He's still pervy even after he died? That old pervert…" He looked at Hinata with a sagely look on his face.

Both of them looked off into the distance after Hinata deactivated her family's jutsu and then turned to look at each other with equal looks of wonder on their faces…. Just after a few seconds they both burst into a fit of laughter that threatened to bring tears to their eyes. Naruto's was so infectious that Hinata started laughing even harder and they both used the tree behind them as support, breathing deeply.

"Man that was funny! Could you believe I just said that Hinata, the super pervert coming back to life only to spy and write perverted novels?"

"You're right, that s-sounds absolutely ridiculous…" She replied holding her stomach and smiling broadly and looking up at the stars.

Naruto turned to Hinata, still smiling like he was the happiest man on earth and he believed that to be true; he felt like he was floating on air. He noticed how the moonlight framed Hinata's face and illuminated the creaminess of her delicate skin. His eyes followed the flow of her cheekbones until he reached her lips. Those plump, pinkish lips that looked so fascinating to him, and for a second he almost felt like feeling those lips against his own. Naruto blinked suddenly, pushing aside that thought from his mind and smiled at her, she loved him. She truly did. She had nearly died giving her life to protect him from Pein and in the process confessed to him; and just before Madara and Obito were about to destroy them all and when he had given up after seeing his comrade, Neji, die in his arms, she was the one to change his mind to fight. She made his heart beat with beginning again and she would be the one to have his heart. There was still so much he didn't know about her but he just wanted her to be his, and he would. However, he had to make it memorable, he had to make up for all the times she had to save him, and he had to repay an irreplaceable debt. The Carnival was one of the perfect ways to do so.

_Don't worry Hinata; soon you'll receive what you've been waiting for all your life. Don't lose hope just yet, I promise to give you an answer, but not after I show you a good time. No, the greatest time in your life..._

"Hey Hinata, look how late it is!" He said suddenly realizing that it was night time, "Let's get you home, we wouldn't want your family getting worried about you, now would we?"

Hinata looked at him with wide eyes, also realizing that they had spent the entire afternoon at the Academy and blushed deeply.

_I spent the entire afternoon with Naruto. Just the two of us…_

Without further persuasion, both made their way to The Hyuuga Compound talking excitedly about where to go and what sites to see during the Kokuran Carnival tomorrow and how nice it would be to see all the other Nations there. After Naruto had dropped off Hinata and hugged her goodbye that earned him the deepest blush he'd ever seen from the shy heiress, he made his was home with a smile on his face.

He finally had someone that loved him besides family and friends. This was a love like no other, and he could share it with someone he just loved to be around. He mentally praised Kiba for thinking about the idea of inviting her to the Carnival with him, so that he and Hinata could have a double date with Sasuke and Sakura, even though he knew his best friend wouldn't like it one bit, as Naruto already had a whole sermon planned to tease him now that he was involved in a relationship with Sakura.

"Well, better sleep early so I can prepare for tomorrow," he said to himself after he'd gotten home, dressed into his pajamas and slipped into bed enjoying the warm feeling in his body.

_Good night mom._

_Good night dad._

_Good night pervy-sage._

Naruto sighed in content.

_Good night Hinata._

_You all sleep well, alright?_

And slowly, but surely, he fell asleep with an unnoticed tear of happiness rolling down his cheek…

* * *

**Wow…**

**I'm still reeling at how mushy I used to write all those years ago 0_0**

**As a reminder, this story was something I wrote years ago. Lying in wait to be published onto this very site. I was young and naïve back then, and my style of writing wasn't anything to gasp at(though I do agree that those were more… ignorant days before society smashed reality into my face with a brick).**

**This chapter was longer than the first as promised, with certainly more to come.**

**Please R , I always love to know what you guys think. It's one if the joys of writing for a site.**


	3. On To The Carnival

**CHAPTER 3- On**** To The Carnival**

_Naruto was walking…..no wait running, into the vast battlefield before him, bounding over fallen comrades and lifeless White Zetsu clones and headed toward the sound he had feared to hear again…._

_He and Killer-Bee had already taken care of most of the other clones but, now after Naruto heard the cries of his friend, he had come running and with a purpose. Naruto sprinted on, his fiery Sage-mode still burning all over his body and his hands geared up for another Rasengan at a moments notice. He dashed to a hill, cutting down as many clones in front of him and sent a few of his own to clear a pathway for him to keep running._

_And he ran…ran and ran...until he heard that sound again._

_Naruto stopped in his tracks and looked into the distance, to a small cluster of trees, before his gaze turned hard and he dashed off, leaving plumes of smoke in his wake. He had to get there fast; he just had to! He had already lost Neji because he wasn't as vigilant as before, and he'd promised that he wouldn't lose Hinata as well. Breaking through the clearing, he spotted the Hyuuga fending off a group of the White Zetsu clones with her Gentle Fist and Naruto sighed in relief._

_Okay, she's not hurt, but I've still got to help out…_

_Rearing up a large charge of chakra, he created a Rasengan, the size of his head, and used his Sage-mode cloak, to create a large arm to hold that rasengan and hurl it at a another group of Zetsu clones, who were morphing into one another just a few feet from Hinata. The reaction was instant, the clones were ripped to shreds and a large crater was formed in their place. Naruto charged chakra into his legs and boosted himself into a hyper jump, until he landed right beside her._

_She turned to him, Byakugan still activated, and slightly blushing at him with an unspoken "thank you" in her expression. He nodded and they both began cutting down the numbers of the quickly decreasing number of Zetsu clones. This war had suddenly appeared out of the blue, forcing the Allied Forces to immediately come back into action and fight, with a sense of nostalgia at the white Zetsu clones that threatened to destroy their race._

_Hinata turned to Naruto and quickly brought down a few strikes to a clone that would have decapitated him if she hadn't intervened and turned back around to destroy the horde facing her._

_Naruto turned, noticing their morphing jutsu again and quickly summoned Gamatatsu, running his hands through a chain of hand signs and slapping his summon on the back, screaming, "Wind Collaboration Jutsu: whirlwind," which sent a large mix of water and wind chakra at the combined clones, obliterating them into pieces._

_After that attack, there weren't any foes left in their area and Hinata turned off her Byakugan, turning to look at Naruto._

_"I've covered this area, but the others still need our help"_

_He nodded and began walking away from her, charging up another rasengan, while Gamatatsu left with a puff of smoke. He noticed movement just a foot behind Hinata and his eyes widened in realization, turning back quickly, running back to her side- but was too late. The still breathing Zetsu clone plunged a discarded katana into Hinata's midsection, piercing her through the back, and pushed forward until the blade broke through her chest. Her screamed became a loud gurlge as a mouthful of blood came squirting out of her mouth and onto her Chunnin jacket. Naruto could **feel** the gasp that escaped her lips as her body began to descend._

_"HINATA!!!"_

_She collapsed, just as the clone gave out his last breath and died, before letting go of the blade still stuck in Hinata's body. Naruto watched helplessly as she fell into his embrace, holding her carefully to prevent the blade from being pushed even deeper into her body. She choked out a sob and gazed at him, crying softly. It was just them there; the sounds of battle distant passed the trees before them now._

_"Hinata, Hinata stay with me!" He said, breaking the hilt of the sword and pulling it out of her body as quickly as he could, making her cringe in pain. "Come on, you're not going to leave me, not like Neji. Please, Hinata, stay with me!" He pushed deep into his reserves, coating the wound in the Nine-Tail's chakra to cease the bleeding._

_She sobbed some more, before taking his hand in hers and placing it over her heart, grasping it tightly in her soft hands, smiling at him through the tears and the pain she felt; she wasn't going to leave him. She wasn't going to die. Not when she meant so much to him dammit. And he'd never gotten the chance to say it yet, did he? Say how much he loved her back? How he would spend as many waking and sleeping hours with her as possible? How could he do that if she died on him now? He still hadn't taken her to that carnival everyone was on about._

_"I-I-It's okay N-Naruto…" she coughed out, pressing his hand into her chest, staining it with her blood._

_Oh God, it was that adorable stutter again…_

_Naruto was crying as well, he didn't want this. He didn't want this all!_

_She was supposed to live! Naruto begged to the Heaven's above to claim his soul instead; to transfer his life force into hers. Surely he had enough for the two of them. He was an Uzumaki dammit! A powerhouse of Chakra and life force. What good was having all that longevity if he couldn't share the stupid thing?_

_She managed a small laugh, before blinking those large, lavender tinted eyes at him, that just made him melt. "I j-just w-w-wanted you to k-know…."_

_"Hinata, please. Don't talk; we'll get Sakura or Tsunade, we'll heal you, please!"_

_"Naruto, please… it's too late," she said, rubbing his hand in hers, still smiling that beautiful smile of hers. That gorgeous, otherworldly smile that he had never noticed until now. Until it was too **late**._

_"I wanted you to know that… I'll a-always will love you a-and I….adore you…now and f-f-forever…" She said, crying and softly closing her eyes, and he saw her head tilt back on his arm._

_No……._

_She was dead. Her beautiful laugh would never resound in his ears again._

_No…….no…_

_Gone. He would never hold her in his arms and hug her, until she blushed red at him and fainted in happiness._

_No….no….no, no, no…._

_Most of all, he would never get the chance to say that he loved her…. Never be able to share his love with hers, because she was gone. Gone, forever._

**_NO!!!!!!_ **

_The nine-tails cloak caused an explosion, so big that both of them were thrown into its epicenter, and a cocoon formed around her now lifeless body, bright eyes now dull and glassy. All nine tails sprouted from his body, his Sage-mode flaring to an immeasurable degree that tore the layers of his skin and burnt his eyes._

_He looked at Hinata once more, before closing his eyes and snapping them open again, blowing up the cocoon around them and ripping the pieces of his skin off completely. A dense crimson coating the under skin and rippling with an ominous chakra fouler than the tainted Madara's. The muscles and tendons writhed like bloody snakes and his eyes were bleached white, the orange-styled fusion of Sage Mode and Tailed Beast no longer present. Just a void stain that emitted a surge of energy so strong it burned the air around it. A deep growl erupted from what was once Naruto Uzumaki. One that scared the birds into heart attacks and peeled the layers of earth beneath. Thoughts swirled in the pit of this beasts mind as it continued to stare at the corpse it held in its hands that slowly ripped into claws. It stared on impassively, as if trying to regain a memory before snarling, jagged teeth bared and tails thrashing as twisted horns broke free from its skull, causing another mediocre form of pain to try and combat the loss it felt right now._

_For a split seccond, it briefly registered an encounter with another yellow-haired man - or maybe orange - pierced head-to-toe, that had said something about true pain. The thought burned from existence however, as another fit of rage claimed the beast; suddenly noticing a fresh wave of those white-bodied humans it had fought before losing control. The beast shook violently at the approach of the sickly-white individuals before releasing another terrifying roar that tore through the sky and dyed the sun navy. The body it held dissolved in its claws like rock inside acid - its remains dribbling down the crimson beast's body in an array of blood and bones before it finally turned to its prey, anguish burning in its lungs as it cried out:_

**_"IF SHE GOES, THEN THE WORLD GOES WITH _HER!"**

_Before the space surrounding the white-figures and the red beast erupted in a flash of white, taking everything away in its wake…_

* * *

"Gah!" Naruto bolted upright, panting and sweating heavily, with the covers thrown off him, "What a terrible dream." he said, wiping his forehead and walking towards the balcony.

The alarm clock said it was only two in the morning, but Naruto couldn't go back to sleep. Not after THAT dream. Hinata, dying in his arms? Impossible. Zetsu's coming back from after the Fourth Shinobi War had purged every last one of them? Never. White Zetsu was defeated long ago; he wouldn't come back, ever.

He sighed; it was just a nightmare, but a scary one none-the-less, and he couldn't shake off the shivers that ran down his spine at the events that took place in his head. He had to confess to Hinata, he had to say it to her today - it couldn't wait any longer. Not after so much had happened.

Naruto walked into his kitchen, poured himself a glass of milk and drank. Closing his eyes as they cold liquid made its way down his gullet, to his stomach and settled by his navel. He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair, before slipping on a pair of scandals and walking out of his apartment, locking the door behind him.

"Running should clear my head. I need something, anything to keep me away from that horrid dream," he muttered to himself and started off in a jog.

_I hope Hinata had a better sleep than I did, at least…_

* * *

Hinata awoke with a yawn, stretching her arms above her head and leaning her head back, content at the warm rays of sunlight slowly shining on the covers and seeping warmth into her. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, trying to picture how today would be. Naruto was taking her out on a date, after all. She thought of how they would maybe spend the day at the various stall games, or go on a boat ride together and just enjoy themselves. She blushed at the thought and shook her head, trying to forget about him now and focus on getting ready for the day. She got out of bed, slowly stretching her pent up limbs, before walking into her bathroom.

After the Fourth Shinobi War, she had decided to move out of the Hyuuga Estate, thinking that she didn't need to live around her clan so much and that since she liked her own space, why not get her own apartment? Of course, Hiashi, being the now loving father that he was, who adored his firstborn after neglecting her for so long, had decided to choose the apartment she would live in. And being the powerful head of the Hyuuga Household that he was, he hadn't realized that the mansion-sized apartment he'd picked for her was just slightly - _completely - _too luxurious for the girl. In fact, Hinata wouldn't mind living in a small living area. She could do with living in a simple one- bedroom if she wanted to, but her father had said otherwise, so she'd taken the house, on the condition that she could decorate it and make it look like a home, by herself.

And being the smart and elegant Hyuuga heiress she was, she'd made the apartment look like a scene out of a Disney movie, but that was Kiba's opinion at least.

"Alright, something casual, but n-not too casual," she said to herself, looking at her wardrobe after she'd finished up in the bathroom, "This might b-be a difficult choice after a-all, though." Hinata frowned and looked around in her wardrobe.

She mostly wore her usual shinobi gear, consisting of a pair of three- quarter trousers and her baggy purple and white hoodie, but other than that, there was only her formal clothing for when she had Clan meetings, and she couldn't wear that to such a casual event.

Hinata sighed and began to rummage in her wardrobe once again, trying to find a decent shirt and matching skirt, or, at least, shorts; unfortunately, she didn't manage to find anything and was interrupted by her doorbell ringing. She groaned outwardly at her dilemma and walked towards her front door.

"I hope it isn't Naruto, I'm n-not properly d-dressed!" Hinata said, looking at her nightgown and bunny slippers.

She peeked through the eye-hole on the door with slight hesitancy, only to widen her eyes and fling it open and grip her sister in a loving hug.

"Hanabi!"

"Oh, come on, I come to visit just once and you attack me with all this mushy stuff, like hugging, as if you haven't seen me in years," Hanabi replied, smiling and wrapping her arms around her older sister. "Man, this place is huge! I should ask father if I could move out as well." she said, looking around her sister's house, after moving out of the hug and staring at Hinata's living room.

Hinata giggled softly and replied, "It took a while, b-but I f-finally managed to finish around h-here."

"Yeah, and you made it look like home too. I feel like I'm in paradise already."

"Don't be silly, Hanabi," she said, nudging her sister with her hip, "It's not that grand, b-but it's your home, too. Whenever y-you need to stay or want to visit, you'll always be w-welcome." She smiled at Hanabi, then looked at the gift bag in her left hand and tilted her head. "Are you going out somewhere?"

Hanabi looked at the gift bag and then to Hinata, grinning mischievously. "Oh, me? Khonohamaru's taking me out to the Kokuran Carnival later today, but this," she motioned to the bag and gave it to Hinata, "is for you, dear sister. It's from Kiba; he said you probably didn't have anything to wear, so he bought you these for your date with Naruto."

"Oh," she said, blushing. She really didn't have anything to wear, but she silently thanked Kiba for knowing her so well. "W-Wait, how d-do you know a-a-about Naruto and me?" She turned red again and looked at Hanabi.

"Come on, you really think that blond idiot would think of taking you to a big place, like the Kokuran carnival, without help?"

"S-So you mean-"

"Yes, Kiba helped pick a place for him to take you out, Hinata; it's quite obvious that he's got a crush on you, and you saw him yesterday."

Hinata blinked at her, then started smiling and laughing. It was loud, incontrollable that made her body shudder and jerk, and unstoppable to the point that it made gasp for air. Hanabi thought she had gone mad, before Hinata crushed her with another hug and screamed, "Naruto's got a crush on me!" Her younger sister rolled her eyes but smiled all the same,"Hanabi, I'm so happy right now!"

She continued to laugh and scream until Hanabi poked her in her side and began to tickle her, making her let go and laugh even harder at her sister touching her ticklish spots.

"Alright, alright! Let's get you sorted for this date. Trust me to be the helping hand." Hanabi stated, taking Hinata to the bedroom, once again, to get her ready, "Once I'm done with you, Naruto won't know what hit him."

* * *

By the time Naruto had come back from his morning run, checked and ticked off the places that he and Hinata would visit at the carnival, sorted his wallet out for said carnival, and finished his daily chores, it was already half past eight in the morning and Naruto needed to shower… badly.

He had sent a clone, half an hour ago, to fetch Kiba who was currently running a few errands for the hospital and with a knock on the door, he gingerly opened it, ushering his friend into his apartment. In his eyes, Kiba was like his life-saver. A love mentor. The Mr. Miyagi to his karate kid. When he needed help with things involving the opposite sex or just things in general, the fanged Inuzuka would always lend an ear and a helping hand. He knew that he could have asked Kakashi, but his sensei was too much of a pervert like his other sensei, to give him advice on a simple matter such as this, so he figured that he could ask one of the Khonoha 12 for help. They weren't old perverts with nothing better to do than read perverted novels and imagine themselves in a hot-spring with half-nude girls talking to them, right?

"Phew! Man, you stink," was the first thing Kiba had said to him, after walking through the door, followed by Akamaru, "and you're not dressed?! What type of guy are you, to not be ready for a simple date to a _CARNIVAL_?"

Naruto just groaned and banged his head on this kitchen counter and, after earning a few worried looks from his comrade, he replied, "You wouldn't even believe the day I had today. Can you believe this is what a wedding planner has to go through with each client? I mean, geez, just kill me now!"

Kiba laughed heartily and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder with a knowing smile. Naruto grinned lazily at him before he felt an arm pick his left arm up and another wrap around his waist, and then slowly lift him up.

"Don't worry about a thing. I've got your back," Kiba said, walking him toward his bathroom. "Just don't expect me to give you a bath. I don't have your back all the way, really."

Naruto shared a laugh before he let go and watched the blond sling a towel over his shoulder and close the door behind him. Kiba nodded with a smile at his friend's determination and decided to wait for him to finish off and get ready, as he sat on Naruto's couch and switched on his T.V. Interesting news was being stirred up about the Kokuran Carnival and he just had to see it for himself.

After a good twenty minutes, Kiba heard Naruto calling his from his bedroom door and got up to check what was up, switching off his T.V and stretching his arms on the way there. He walked through the door, to see his friend wearing a beige pair of jeans, with a yellow button-up shirt and a brown cap flung over his head. He reminded Kiba of dilinquent with no sense of color coding.

"Dude, where did you pick these up from, the alleyway?" Kiba asked, holding back his laughter and watching Naruto's head tilt down, obscuring his eyes from view.

"What? 'Ya don't like mah' sweet threads?" He replied in a cheesy voice and a smile tugging at his lips.

"Hahaha, no," Kiba said, throwing a pillow at Naruto, which he caught, "Unless you're a rapist with a serious voice problem, you'd look horrible for this date with Hinata. Come on, let's see what you were actually gonna wear."

"Well," Naruto said, pulling out a white button-up and a black tie, "This was the look I was going for."

Kiba nodded at Naruto, approving his clothing and holding up a hand. "That's good, but you look too formal. You've gotta be just right, or rather look like you, otherwise Hinata won't feel all that comfortable."

"You mean she likes the way I dress, even though all of you guys call it weird?"

"My point, exactly. I don't see how she loves your idea of fashion. It honestly looks like you cut the sun out and decided to wear it as a joke," he said, dodging the cap thrown his way.

"Alright then, get out for a minute. I'll try another approach."

"You got it," Kiba replied, closing the door behind him. It took another few minutes for Naruto to finish and when he finally came out of his bedroom, Kiba was holding the Kokuran pamphlet, about to discuss the places marked, but stopped when he saw his friend dressed in what he, himself, would call 'cool'.

"Damn! You look good for a ninja dressed as a walking target all the time." Kiba stared, clapping the blond on the back.

He wore a white short sleeved button-up, with an open waistcoat over and a black pair of jeans, all paired with black and white closed shoes. His hair was still as messy as ever, but with the way the black cross lined design on his shirt looked, it matched up and blended his untidy hair in, making him look casual, but with a formal edge to it. Quite frankly, Naruto felt like he was dressing up for a wedding, but at the same time ready for a normal stroll in the park.

"So, this will do?"

"Hell yeah! I never knew you could clean up _that _well." Kiba grinned at him, showing his fangs for a moment, before frowning at his friend's expression "Whoa, what's wrong? You don't look so good."

"I-I don't think I can do it, Kiba," Naruto said, sitting down and shaking his head. "What if it all goes wrong? What if this is a total failure and she starts thinking differently? What would I do?"

Kiba looked at his blonde-haired friend and was shocked. For as long as he could remember, Naruto had only looked like this three times in their total seventeen years together as friends, each wearing him down even heavier and heavier, but none of those times compared to what Kiba saw before him. He looked Naruto in the eyes and recognized what was wrong, immediately.

He was afraid.

Naruto didn't know the meaning of love; he didn't even know what it felt like. He had only experienced pain and rejection. Everyone had hated him, because of the nine-tailed fox sealed within him and even during the Academy, everyone had shunned him for being the pest and prankster in class, and it hit Kiba with regret every time he remembered what he did back then. Naruto was afraid; because this was the first time he didn't know how to deal with a situation. He was helpless in the emotional field and he was terrified of being rejected some more. What would he do if he was rejected by the one person he felt so strongly for, like this? What would it do to him emotionally? Kiba understood.

"It's alright, Naruto," Kiba said, sitting next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "I have no doubt in my mind that this date will be the best day of your life, and you know why?"

Naruto looked at him with pleading eyes, "It's because Hinata's completely in love with you, you idiot!" He exclaimed, slapping him on the back and pulling him out of the chair. "The first time I was paired up with Shino and Hinata, I knew she had a small crush on you and, after the Chunnin Exams, I knew she was love-struck over you. After the whole team knew, we would always tease her about you and her going on dates together, or spending the night together, if it rained too badly for her to go home." He dragged Naruto to his balcony,

"Look at that sky." He motioned to the blue sky above them. "She once talked about your eyes being compared to the it and how it stared into her soul when she looked at you. Did you know that?"

Naruto blinked and with a small blush, shook his head.

"I know Hinata won't reject you, Naruto. If she can fight Pein and nearly die; make you wake up from depression after Neji died and went as far as to stand by your side during the Ten-Tail's attack, then she can't possibly reject you. Her love for you isn't gonna veer sideways from something stupid like a bad date. Get it now?"

Naruto blinked again and nodded with a little more enthusiasm, "You're right. I understand now. Hinata loves me and I love her; how could this possibly go wrong?"

"Exactly! You can do it, Naruto. Now come on, it's time to pick your lucky lady up, and it's nearly-"

Kiba widened his eyes, "Holy crap, its nine-thirty!"

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted, pocketing his wallet and the carnival pamphlet, before rushing out the door.

"And if you take my picture of Tsunade and go all pervert on it, like last time, I'm gonna tell her about it and she _will_ be pissed!"

"H-Hey!" Kiba replied, blushing red and watching his friend sprint through the street and towards Hinata's house. If this turned out well, which it would, there'd be a whole book of stories that the two of them would be spilling out tomorrow. But, then again, that's if they manage to wake up tomorrow, Kiba thought smiling like a perverted Jiraiya at a hotspring.

"This'll be good, I guess."

* * *

"A-And your sure Naruto w-will like me in t-this?"

"Absolutely! He might be a guy that only understands things in he general, but I know he'll appreciate beauty when he sees it."

"W-What makes you so s-sure though?"

"This is Naruto we're talking about, sis. Having two perverted senseis and having them not rub off at least the ability to see a girl's effort and actual beauty, would make him an even bigger idiot than I give him credit for. Or maybe a saint?" She tapped her chin for a moment, "Nah, an idiot."

Hinata sat with Hanabi, all ready for the date ahead, but even after hearing about Naruto's crush on her, she still had doubts on how they would both fair, once they talked about it to each other, face-to-face. Would it be as successful as it was in her dreams, or would she be utterly humiliated and have him turn her down, crushing her heart with four simple words:

_I don't love you…_

The thought made her shiver. That would never happen, she told herself, and Naruto would never say anything to hurt another person's feelings. He's too kind to do something so mean. And she believed that, because this was Naruto she was talking about. Loud, funny, kind, loving and handsome Naruto. Wait, did she just say handsome? Well of course he was handsome; he was even more than that! He was _gorgeous_, in her opinion.

"Uh, sis?" Hanabi asked Hinata, a little unsure of whether to wake her up from her day-dreaming or not.

"Uh-huh?" Hinata replied, blinking her eyes and blushing slightly. She had zoned out thinking about Naruto again.

"I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but maybe you shouldn't try day-dreaming about Naruto when he's right next to you."

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean that maybe you should just prepare for him, because he's coming this way now."

"WHAT?!" She jumped out of the chair she was sitting on and looked out of the window, frantically searching for her date, with wide eyes. She actually thought he'd be a bit late to pick her up, giving her time to prepare and try not to faint when she saw him. Unfortunately for her, she just managed to see a figure with spiky-blonde hair sprinting down the road towards her house right now, and to be honest, she was freaking out!

"Oh my God, he's coming! What do I do? What do I do?" she screamed, shaking her sister and staring at her with pleading eyes, before her sister casually brushed her arms aside and lightly tapped her on the forehead, effectively silencing her.

"Just…relax," she said, brushing away a stray hair from Hinata's face and tucking it behind her ear. "This is just Naruto taking you to a carnival. Think of it as a regular day, with you and him spending the day together.

Hinata breathed out and smiled at Hanabi in thanks. It was at times like this when her sister helped her out the most and when she was truly glad that she and Hanabi had such a close relationship with each other, otherwise Hinata wouldn't know what to do at a time like this.

"O-Okay, how do I look?"

"Honestly?" Hanabi asked, raising an eyebrow to her and, after Hinata had nodded, she sighed, "Like a geisha with no morals."

"H-Hanabi!"

"I'm just kidding!" her sister replied with a laugh. "You look hot. And I mean that in the most guy-ish way possible." She watched her older sister heat up at the compliment and smiled at her. "You'll be fine. Now he's nearing the door, just wait for it." And, just like that, the door bell rang.

Hanabi went to the door and opened it, looking Hinata's date up and down, before smiling to herself. "Well, well. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually _trying _your best to look good for tonight, dobe."

Hinata heard Naruto groan and reply with an irritated voice. "Damn it, Hanabi-baka! How much time have you been spending with Sasuke-teme, huh?"

"Enough to know an idiot when I see one," she replied, beaming at him with a defiant smirk. "Did you really have your first kiss, falling face first into Sasuke and accidently-"

"Clam it, baka, before you walk into something you'll most likely regret," he said, leaning his head forward to give Hanabi a mocking grin. Hinata knew that grin all too well; it was when Naruto was going to do something unpredictable and _that_ wasn't a good sign. Hinata moved to interrupt Hanabi from her next comment but was too late when Hanabi uttered her last words, "What, did his lips feel as soft as you hoped?"

She saw Naruto's eyes darken, before his smile turned sadistic "That's it, you're dead meat!" And without further hesitation, he grabbed the smaller Hyuuga and began tickling her, trapping her between his arms and making her cry her eyes out with laughter, until he stopped suddenly and waited for her to gain some air into her lungs, before asking:

"Had enough, brat?" He was still smiling, but suddenly frowned and looked up, obviously noticing Hinata's presence and saw her for the first time. Hinata prepared for the worst, as she saw his grip on Hanabi loosen completely and his mouth open slightly to gaze at her. She didn't know whether to blush or look away, so she did both.

"H-Hinata….. Is that y-you?" She turned to look at him and gave a shy smile.

"H-Hey there, N-Naruto," She noticed the clothing he wore and was astounded. Since when did he look so irresistible in jeans and a shirt? This was too good to be true.

Naruto looked at Hinata for the first time upon entering her apartment, that looked more like a mansion and for the first time in his life, his heart skipped a beat. Hinata was dressed in a dark blue dress that went down to her knees. It held silver spiral designs along the waist and delicate waves that acted as a border for the straps which made their way over her shoulders. The dress hugged her curves completely like a second skin and made Naruto's head spin at how beautiful she actually was. To accompany her dress, she wore eyeliner and a gloss over her lips, that made her porcelain skin look even more wonderful than before and her hair was as it usually was, in its Indigo wave but with the exception of the bangs being braided, framing her beauty. She wore a matching pair of dark blue pumps, with small bows on the tops of them. To say Hinata looked good was a complete understatement, and had someone commented as such, Naruto would undoubtedly see it as a description of injustice towards her striking beauty.

"Wow…Hinata, you look," he walked away from the still breathless Hanabi and stood directly in front of Hinata, who instantly blushed at his close proximity, "You look stunning."

Hinata turned red at the comment and looked down. "Y-You look quite handsome yourself, N-Naruto…"

"Well now that you mention it, I feel quite underdressed, standing next to you. It looks like you just came out from a fashion magazine!" Naruto exclaimed and then looking at Hanabi curiously, "Did you have a hand in making my date look so… well, you know, hot?"

Hinata snapped her head up to stare at him and her sister looked at her with an _'I told you so'_ look. Did Naruto just call her _hot_? She felt like she was on Cloud 9!

"Hey, she needed help, so I gave it to her. I think I did a pretty good job," she said casually, looking in the other direction. Hinata knew how much she was loving this.

"Well, after our date I need to thank you somehow," he replied, grinning like a kid and then turned back to Hinata. "So, you all set?"

"O-Oh, yes."

"Then let's go," he said, pulling Hinata close to him, earning a squeal from Hinata, before saying, "I thought we'd get there the fastest way possible," he gestured to the Ram seal he held up.

"Oh, and before I forget," he looked at Hanabi, "Konohamaru said you should dress up pretty good as well, brat. He's picking you up at ten-thirty and he thinks his _lady _should dress properly for the occasion. He's taking you out dancing, but don't tell him I said that."

"What?!" She turned beet red and sprinted off to Hinata's bedroom, taking out the other dress inside the gift bag.

"And make sure you don't stutter around him. He'll think you've fallen for him. But between me and you, I know where you keep that collage of his pictures with hearts around them, so you don't have to worry about a thing!"

She squeaked, before slamming the door shut behind her and Naruto chuckled before turning to Hinata. She looked at him and blushed a little; was it just her, or had he become taller and more attractive over time?

"Ready Hinata?" he asked, with a smile and she nodded back meekly. "Hold on tight, then."

Hinata saw the room around them shift and the ground beneath them disappear. She felt herself falling and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her head in his chest and closing her eyes just as they flashed into the entrance of the Kokuran Carnival, shocking the passers by. She felt Naruto's heartbeat quicken as they jumped to the carnival between the different spaces and felt it slowly beat at normal pace when he cancelled his jutsu. His breath was warm against her head and his body felt good against hers. He was solid against her, like a strong tower that couldn't fall and she hugged him tighter, just as he shifted in her grip.

"Um, Hinata?" he asked, poking her back and she realized what she was doing, before quickly disentangled herself from his neck, blushing at him.

"S-Sorry N-Naruto…"

"It's alright, it's not everyday you find a cute heiress holding onto you and not letting go," he replied, grinning at her playfully.

Hinata turned a darker shade of red and her jaw dropped.

_Is Naruto….. Flirting with me?_

She felt like she was going to die straight away, with the way he was teasing her.

"Well, here we are," he said, staring at the carnival before them. "On to the Carnival?" He asked, holding out his hand?

Hinata looked at him nervously, before smiling softly and grasping his hand in hers. With him grinning at her, they made their way towards the carnival, hands intertwined, like a couple on a Summer's day…

* * *

**Oh my God, that was a long chapter! O_O (*Congo accent)**

**I didn't think this chapter would be very long actually but hey, writer's fever; am I right? (*awkward laugh)**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and please, give me some hits about where this fic is actually going people, I can't stand being left in the dark on things, especially when I'm left in the dark about my OWN stuff. This has been a real inspiration to write and even though I'm still a newbie, I feel like an expert already. Man, I'm getting goosebumps already!**

**So I got this idea that after the Fourth Shinobi War, there would be new attractions for people around the Narutoverse to celebrate the fall of Madara and the Akatsuki, hence the Kokuran Carnival. And during that time, I thought of making a NaruHina where Naruto finally feels an attraction to Hinata and tries to make a relationship work between the two of them, so he tries taking her out on a date but can't find a proper place so he asks Kiba, who tells him about the Kokuran Carnival and from there: Ze story unfolds…**

**Quick definitions: **

**_Kokuran Carnival- _black orchid carnival.**

**_Baka- _idiot**

**_Teme_\- bastard or an insult similar to that**

**_Rasengan- _chakra based energy that can be utilized as-**

**Hah! Just kidding, you already know what the Rasengan is. Oh! And before I forget, let me remind you that I do not own Naruto or the casual clothing the characters' wear ( even though I designed them -_-), everything belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, a bloody brilliant man, bless his mind.**

**Please do RR . I'll see you in the next chapter, oyasumi!(because I'm assuming it's night time where all of you are reading this. Stupid me, huh? 0 o 0)**


	4. Beginning Of A Beautiful Life- part 1

**Odd Beginning **

**Chapter 4- Beginning Of A Beautiful Life- part 1 **

The Kokuran Carnival was an odd type of celebration compared to all the other Japanese traditional festivals and special days of celebration. The Kokuran Carnival didn't possess all the usual honorific deeds that would involve things like: having tea with the family, or paying your respects before celebrating by sharing a drink with friends, or playing card games and retelling stories from one's past. Instead, the Kokuran Carnival brought up a new type of tradition or norm that was particularly Western tradition; or so most people liked to believe.

For Naruto and Hinata, this new celebration brought about a new feeling of serenity and calmness, as well as bringing together of different cultures and creeds; diversity was what they saw before them and to be honest, that made them smile. They were glad that they could live in a world that didn't live in fear of others around them and that the world wasn't in a state of emergency that cried for deliverance from an evil that had somehow manifested and became a global threat. It was good for the two of them to witness this, to see that their efforts to bring about peace hadn't been in vain and that now the world was safe for the time being. All was well with the world as the pair stared at happy faces, laughing children and listened to melodious music.

"Man, this place is packed!" Hinata giggled at Naruto's sudden outburst, the way his eye's seemed to widen and iris's to brighten in awe made her think of a child witnessing a parade. It was also amusing to see his jaw hang from his face like an unresponsive piece of machinery. She followed him towards a small stand that showed a whole bunch of stuffed animals and a stack of cups on a pedestal, with two rubber balls on the side. Both of them had been walking around, exchanging conversation and staring at the various stands, shops and items, intrigued, wondering how such things like cotton- candy and toffee-apples existed. Sure, Naruto had eaten a toffee-apple once during a mission and Hinata had seen cotton-candy in a sweet shop while visiting a family friend in Tea Country, but neither of them had actually tried to explore the mystery of apples on a stick and fluffy floss in a bag; the idea was completely insane!

"Ha ha!" they heard the stall owner shout, after they stood for a good five minutes staring at his odd challenge.

"Uh, hey there. What game is this supposed to be, exactly?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. "The stall name says '_Cup-Smasher' _." He looked over to the stall owner and noted his over-excited expression with a raised blonde eyebrow.

"Glad you asked," the stall owner answered. "just as the name suggests, is what you have to do."

"Smash cups?"

"That's right! With the exception that you'll only have two chances to knock down all the cups on the stand here." The stall owner tossed Naruto two rubber balls. "Use these to knock 'em down and, if you get all the cups down, you get a prize of your choice."

Naruto looked at Hinata for a moment before shrugging and leaning close to her so that the stall owner wouldn't hear his next choice of words, "Hinata, this guy looks a bit mental; you wanna run while we can?"

Hinata blushed slightly before replying, "A-Actually, I think you should go for it." She motioned to the stacked cups. "The challenge l-looks quite easy anyways…"

Naruto nodded in agreement to her and walked up to the throwing post before handing the stall owner the required fee to play _Cup-Smasher_. It was a fairly simple game to play, in Naruto's opinion. Throw two balls to knock over ten cups stacked in a pyramid shape; how difficult was that?

"Alright then, Hinata, watch me win this thing!" Naruto said, tossing one of the balls up and down in his hand, before giving it a strong throw, aimed at the stack and knocking over the top five over with ease and letting out a shout of victory, making his date giggle at his foolish antics.

"Nice one kid, now just knock over the last five and the prize is all yours." The stall owner said clapping his hands.

Naruto nodded at him and looked toward the remaining cups, frowning at them before giving the cups a sadistic grin. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and, seeing a palm sized Jiraiya standing on top of the cups, like a wall and using a telescope to peep at a group of unsuspecting girls at a hot-spring. With a laugh, he threw the last ball at the cups and smiled as five more cups joined the pile on the floor.

_No more peeking today you old Perv!_

"Excellent throwing, kid!" The stall owner shouted and gave Naruto a wide smile before pointing to the heap of stuffed animals next to him, "Which one would you like?"

Naruto looked at the animals on the shelf next to the stall owner. There was an array of different colored elephants, bears, dogs, and even some lizards. He noticed some monkeys on the side but eventually pointed to a pair of orange and black ears sticking out of the bundle of bears and answered saying,

"What's that over there? It's covered by the bears."

"Hmm? Oh! I forgot I still had him," the stall owner pulled a small fox out of the bundle and tossed it to Naruto, "my niece made him for me just before I left to come here for the carnival."

Naruto caught the fox and gave it a quick once-over look, "She sure can make stuffed animals, though; give my respects to her, will 'ya?"

"Yeah, sure. What's your name, kid?"

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto replied taking Hinata's hand and walking towards the other stalls, with the fox positioned on top of his head, "Later, old-timer!" He waved before disappearing into the crowd with his date.

The stall owner's eyes widened. "W-Wait, Naruto Uzumaki?! The Savior of The World?" He sputtered out in shock.

"T-That was kind of y-you Naruto." Hinata said while still blushing at them holding hands. Naruto smiled at her and stopped walking, before tilting his head and nearly making the stuffed fox slide off of his head.

"I was just being honest, I mean look at this little guy, he looks like a professional made him!" He replied, pointing to the stuffed fox and taking him off his head, "But it's quite a shame really. I don't have any use for him," Naruto said, pouting and looking at the small orange and black fox in his hands. "However, I'm pretty sure there is one person that might appreciate him more than me." Naruto said grinning at Hinata and slowly holding out the stuffed fox.

Hinata thought she'd just die in happiness at that moment. Naruto was taking her out on a date, to the Kokuran Carnival no less _and_ giving her _his _stuffed animal to _keep_? This was just too good to be true! She flushed red instantly as soon as his hands reached her. She didn't know what to do, nevermind what to say at that moment. She felt like grabbing his head and smashing his lips against hers; she wanted to scream and laugh in joy; heck, she wanted to jump at him and wrap her arms tightly around him and confess her love for him _again_.

"O-Oh! Thank y-you Naruto." She said, taking the fox from him and holding it tightly to her chest, blushing an even deeper red.

_Oh my God, she looks so adorable! Kiss her now, you idiot. Confess that you love her, do SOMETHING already; this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!_

Naruto had to do something at this moment, it was just perfect for him to make a move and finally start something between the two of them, he just needed to open his mouth.

_Say something now, you idiot! Before the window closes, say something…_

Naruto looked at Hinata in her gorgeous blue dress, with an even more gorgeous blush on her face, looking at him with those transfixing lavender eyes that seemed to possess a bit of… what was that he saw, longing? No, want maybe? No, it was love! She was falling even more in love with him and all he could do was watch and not make a move.

_What are you waiting for, you blockhead?! Make the move, do it NOW!!!!_

"So, we haven't really explored this carnival completely and I know you're also wanting to know how that cotton-candy stuff tastes so…. You want to go and… explore?"

"Uh…" Hinata was at a loss for words. She had just spent almost a lifetime in her opinion staring into those deep cerulean pools of his and thinking she saw a hint of want in his eyes, unless she was mistaken. But… Hanabi had said that he had a crush on her and Hanabi never lied about information about Naruto.

_"Why don't you let him take the lead? It's not like he's gonna leave you there to your own devices if he's the one that asked you out in the first place." _Were her sister's words when she was frozen in apprehension earlier in the day. "_Who knows? It might actually end up being better than you think it will be…"_

Hinata was lost; she didn't know what to do or what to expect from the number one most unpredictable ninja that was Naruto Uzumaki. All she could do was follow him and keep herself from fainting every time he held her hand. Sooner or later he would make a move… because that what guys did when they asked a girl out on a date, right?

"A-Alright," she said with a smile, "Let's go get some c-cotton-candy."

* * *

"Come on already Sasuke! Can't you walk a little faster? Sasuke!"

"You dragged me along to this annoying carnival in the first place, don't rush me." To say the Last Uchiha would be spending his time lazing under the sun, enjoying a good book or even visiting the memorial stone after the War, and with his vendetta against his brother ended; one would expect Sasuke Uchiha to be relaxing himself at home or in the confides of his mind to keep him company somewhere quiet and calm. That is to say though, _if_ Sasuke Uchiha had been given the moment to do any of those things…. They were now foiled by one pink-haired shinobi and his teammate in the field.

Of course Sasuke had known about his teammate's love for him and he'd tried to avoid it as best he could whenever she was brought into any situation with him. Call him old fashioned but love and happy emotions wasn't exactly the _first_ thing any Uchiha would experience given their reputation and the fact that all the rest were dead besides him. And so, being the genius Sasuke was, he would obviously notice that the Kokuran Carnival was just around the corner and he'd done what any guy would do to prevent annoying girls from cornering him: he avoided contact and literally _any_ talk revolving around romantic places and possible dating areas like a carnival for instance.

However, having a head-over-heels girl and formidable opponent like Sakura, who was trained by a Legendary Sannin and possessed a razor-sharp intellect, he knew she would eventually find him and drag him to that meaningless carnival. Why would he need to attend a celebration that had all the nations in it, that would recognize him instantly and either ruin his already ruined mood with mundane conversation or threaten him with insults and jabs due to his time in the Akatsuki and assult on the 5 Kage; making the carnival a tourist attraction that hosted him along with the other great Shinobi of their time for spectators to ogle and flog to, asking questions about this and that and having children ask for his autograph or having girls swarm him to ask about his dating life. So at this time of five-past-eleven, where the sun was at its apex and the amount of people were increasing by the dozens, Sasuke prayed for a divine intervention to stop this dragging 'date' from carrying on.

Thankfully, Sasuke _did_ receive his intervention but he wasn't sure he would _like _what was coming next…

"Hey! Sasuke!" He heard a loud mouthed idiot scream and wave his hand at him and Sakura with- wait, who was that he was with? Is that…. Hinata?

_Hn, maybe this won't be so bad after all…_

What a coincidence it was that his _other_ teammate had to be here as well and with a _date_ nonetheless. to say Sasuke was surprised would be an understatement.

"Hey! Naruto, how's it going?" Sakura shouted back waving her arm to them as they passed the crowds of people and stood a few feet from each other, "And I see you brought Hinata along, is this a date?" He was sure he saw a glint of mischief in those eyes of hers.

"Uh, w-well you see-"

"W-we were actually-"

"And then we came here-"

"-And now here w-we are!"

Both Naruto and Hinata looked like they would burst from how hot and red both their faces were. He could swear he saw a small grin jump onto his blonde friend's mouth, before it twitched into his usual dumb expression. Hinata looked a little out of it, though, like she was dreaming or something and Sasuke noticed the orange and black fox she was hugging tightly to her chest and smirked to himself.

_This is too good to be true. Hinata and Naruto… on a date? This should be entertaining._

"So Dobe," he said grabbing his comrade's attention, "When were you going to tell us that you and Hinata were dating?" he smirked again as he saw his comrade and his date both flush red and look in two different directions before Naruto turned back and replied.

"Heh, when were you going to tell us that you were coming to the carnival with Sakura? Everyone knows you were busy trying to avo-"

"Shut it blockhead, before I tell Hinata what you were planning right from the start of the carnival."

"Would you two knock it off?" Sakura yelled, catching both boys' attention, "Can't you just enjoy the carnival with your dates and try not to cause another spar between two of the strongest Shinobi in the world?"

"Hn."

"Yeah, alright."

"Good. Now Hinata, you look gorgeous in that dress and oh my God that fox is so cute!" She said jumping right into conversation with Hinata while the two boys' sweat-dropped and watched their teammates fascination over Naruto's date.

"O-Oh, thank you," Hinata replied smiling and hugging the fox tighter, "N-Naruto w-won it for m-me." She blushed throughout the entire sentence.

"Aww! That was sweet of you Naruto," His pink-haired teammate said looking at him with a smile, "Sasuke and I were just about to go for a ride on the ferry together, you two should join us."

"That's kind of you Sakura but actually, Hinata and I were thinking of going dancing to this new place near the west side of the carnival, _Blue Bird Dining_ or something related to that."

Sakura looked at him incredulously, "Since when do you dance? I haven't seen you move into a waltz or even tango for that matter."

"You're right, but I just thought I'd try my best," he replied tilting his head to Sasuke, "See you around and have fun!" he shouted, wrapping an arm around Hinata's shoulder as she waved goodbye and smiled before blushing red again and looking at Naruto with a shocked expression as his arm wrapped around her ashe led them off towards the restaurant that awaited.

After they were out of earshot, Sakura sighed and stared walking toward the ferry with a slouch, "Come on Sasuke, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can leave you to do whatever it is you wanted to do instead of spending the day here…"

Sakura was sure of Sasuke's behavior; he didn't want to be here at all. He wouldn't like the aspect of going out for a day by a friend or staying up with her watching a few movies with different genres, never mind spending the entire day with her at a carnival. Sasuke was a slightly boring guy when you thought about it. No one knew what he did in his free time and the only time he'd be with you was either because of a mission or one of his weird plans again. Quite frankly, Sakura was staring to think that bringing Sasuke along to enjoy a day at the carnival would be a great idea, but thinking of it now, what was he going to do? Stare the grass to death and plot how to get away from her as soon as she turned her back? He was a lost cause, what was the use of bringing him to anything fun if he acted like the world hated him? She thought she should just call it quits but then she felt warmth wrapping around her left hand and she turned to see Sasuke looking at her with his head tilted and then she looked down and saw her hand in his.

"I've got a better idea," He said leading her towards a river nearby and stopped at the edge of it before turning back to her.

"Close your eyes."

"But Sasuke, I thought we were-"

"Just close them for a moment."

She did as she was told and after a few seconds she felt a quick and warm feeling against her cheek and she opened her eyes to see Sasuke smirking at her.

"You're blushing."

"I am not!" she said quickly turning her head away but he cupped her chin and turned her head towards his and tilted it up and slowly but surely, placed firm kiss on her lips that she instantly leaned into before he slowly pulled away and she looked at him with a shocked expression before she flushed a deep red.

"Don't tell a soul." He said to her.

"I-I won't…"

He grasped her hand in his once again and gave her a genuine smile that made her heart skip before he looked toward the ferry ahead,

"Those rides don't look the least bit fun, let's head to that rollercoaster we saw earlier." He said walking back toward the carnival and guiding a flabbergasted Sakura along.

"Uh-huh…" she said still too shocked to reply. Maybe he wasn't a lost cause after all, she thought with a wry smile.

* * *

Saying that Naruto was having a good time was a lie.

In fact, saying that Naruto was having an amazing time would be a lie as well; he was having the time of his life with Hinata. From the time they arrived at the Kokuran Carnival, Naruto had been ecstatic to start this date off on a good note and a comfortable pace. The beginning was a bit awkward, he agreed, but after they had that short run-in with Sasuke and Sakura, the events that took place afterwards were almost spectacular. They had walked around the entire carnival playing a different variety of games from contests to casual time-wasting games and just for a little fun, they'd tried and tasted every single dish, snack and sweet there was in the carnival that they didn't know and had a great time doing so if the cotton-candy in Naruto's hair from their 'candy fight' was any indication.

Naruto had also become extremely infatuated with his date, and during their time tried to learn everything he could about Hinata. Sure he'd known her from childhood and during and a few months after the war, both of them had been seeing each other regularly so he'd gained a sense of a proper friendship with her and they treated each other like old friends but Naruto wanted to know _more_.

He wanted to know what it was like to step into the life of Hinata Hyuuga; he wanted to know what was her favorite food, what she liked to drink usually, when she did fun stuff and enjoy herself, how she kept such a healthy garden at her home when she was always on missions, what she liked to do during her free time and what was her favorite place to be.

All these and more that he wanted to explore and discover about her, she was an interesting person after all. She was the first Hyuuga to have such a different lure to then than all the others, she was absolutely shy around people, especially him (not that he minded that, he actually thought she was even prettier when she was shy to talk) and she always strived to be better at what she did. For those reasons alone, Naruto admired and fell completely in love with her.

It wasn't to say that it was just her personality that made him love her. On the contrary, Hinata was without a doubt _gorgeous_! She looked like an innocent little princess (which she was) or an adorable bunny rabbit that he just couldn't stop petting or wanting to hug so badly, she just looked so cuddly! Hinata also had a killer figure, although she tried to hide it by wearing baggy clothing, Naruto could see through all of it. Being the student of two of the most perverted teacher's in the world was kind of a blessing and a curse, he guessed. On the one hand, he could see when a girl tried to hide her beauty or was too self-conscious to show it, or, lacked the self-confidence to show her figure. He could sense a girl's emotions and understand and offer his help and assistance because let's face it, Naruto didn't like to say this often (he said it too often) but he was a nice person and an awesome friend, he could listen and comprehend at the same time.

Unfortunately, training with two perverted teachers also meant that they had rubbed off a small amount of that perverted-side to Naruto. To Naruto's discontent, he had a slight difficulty of trying not to imagine beautiful girls in clothing that was a little provocative (very provocative) and he had to mentally beat himself up from thinking of perverted situations and sometimes he had the odd wet-dream (that's normal for seventeen year old guys, though, isn't it?).

But still, it meant that Naruto had a slight increase in… well, _urges_, or a tendency to zone-out completely when seeing a gorgeous girl wearing clothing that just intensified how hot she looked and imagined perverted situations before stopping himself and cursing his deceased Godfather. It wasn't Naruto's fault that he read manuscripts of the Icha Icha Paradise novels before they were released; Jiraiya had made him proof-read his smut so that it was eligible for publishing and from there, the rubbing off of a super-pervert began…

So at this moment in time where a shocked and literally embarrassed Naruto was staring at his date who just so happened to drop her stuffed fox and bend down to retrieve the fallen item, he was at a loss for words when he hesitantly yet eagerly at the same time (Damn you Icha Icha Paradise!) watched Hinata, who was in a form-fitting dress bend down and pick up the stuffed fox, Naruto nearly had a nosebleed if his dark-red blush and glazed-over eyes were any indication.

_You complete idiot, stop looking at Hinata in that position! You're not a pervert, stop it right now!_

Just then, Hinata noticed something on her shoes and began to pick them off while still bending over…

_Aw, come on! Why does my luck have to run out now? That's just grea-_

_Hey! Put that stupid tongue back in you're mouth and stop drooling! Wait a minute, are you thinking of going over there and…. _

_Oh, you Dog! Stop! Stop! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!_

Naruto continued to stare at Hinata.

**_CURSE YOU PERVY-SAGE!!!!!_ **

"T-There was a leaf in my s-shoe." Hinata said standing upright again and turning to Naruto.

"Uh, Wha?" he replied dreamily to her, blinking slowly and shaking his head to rid himself of his pervy moment.

Hinata giggled at him, "W-Were you d-d-daydreaming Naruto?"

"W-Well… you could say something like that," he said quickly and flushing red again, not keeping eye contact with her, "If only you knew…"

She frowned at him in confusion before tilting her head to the side and looking up at the sky. It had grown reasonably dark during their last few hours together that it was nearing to four o clock in the afternoon and they still had so much more to do until their date was over. Naruto looked at Hinata gazing up at the sky. Again, he found it hard not to memorized her jaw-line and examine the texture of her pale and creamy skin. It was like porcelain but looked soft and warm at the same time and her hair was like a midnight velvet wave of silkiness, it curled and straightened at odd places but looked like it was perfect and part of the masterpiece that was her face and how wonderfully it contrasted with those lavender-tinted eyes of hers, like light-purple orbs of light that gazed at him with innocence and love instead of the cold stab that any other Hyuuga would offer both purposefully and unintentionally.

_I wonder how it would feel to run my hands through her hair and feel her skin against mine…_

"What w-was that?" Hinata asked, now broken out of her trance-like state.

"Hmm?"

"You said s-something along t-the lines of: 'I wonder how it would feel.'"

"O-Oh!" he said a bit unnerved, did she just read his thoughts half-way or did I mutter it out unintentionally? In actual fact, he was scared to find the answer to that question.

"I was just thinking for a moment," Naruto's heartbeat sped up faster, "I wonder what it would feel like to be a star out there in space." He sputter out quickly.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto mentally sighed in relief, it would have been utterly embarrassing if Hinata had put two-and-two together. He was slightly glad Pervy-Sage had the foresight to teach him improvisation even if those lessons were all from his pervy and privatized collection of his smutty novels.

_Thank goodness for Icha Icha Paradise!!!!!_

"Well, think about it, there would be no fighting, no wars to get involved into and no people trying to claim you and use you for their own weird purposes," he rested his hands on the back of his head, "You'd be free. Able to live peacefully and the best part is that you can't be destroyed until it's finally your time."

Hinata looked at the sky again before looking back to him and smiling, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear, "You're r-right. That would be nice…"

Naruto nodded and looked down, lowering his hands to rest in his pockets before he felt a delicate and soft hand lift up his head by his chin and was greeted by lavender orbs.

"But I'd be too lonely and bored shinning all my life only to reach my end and expand into a ball of rock and die out like a snuffed candle light." Hinata said blinking her eyes and staring deeply into his own.

"Actually, there may be a slight chance that you might explode into a shooting star and sail through space before landing into a planet and exploding again, leaving a massive crater behind in your wake." He replied and she laughed at his comment, the sound like chimes being tinkled by the wind like calming music to his ears.

"So you'd w-want me to blow up and leave a crater in a planet? I'd still die, you know." She was smiling at him now and boy did she make his heart beat even faster than before.

"At least you made your mark for fun and greeted your end with dignity."

"Well, I think I'll just stay being me."

"Of course you would," Naruto smiled back and winked at her and smiled even wider when she blushed at him, "Being a regular person is still awesome!" He shouted wrapping his arms around her that earned him a squeak before he spun her around. His smile widening when she only continued to giggle and laugh at his antics. They both stared into each other's eyes as he continued to spin her around and immediately, the two if them fell even deeper in love with each other.

_She's so beautiful…_

_He's so wonderfully handsome…_

Naruto set Hinata down and held her hands in his, lilac orbs still gazing into azure pools, and slowly but surely, their heads' inched forwards to meet each others lips. Her breath was quickening and he was flushing red again as their foreheads' touched and he breathed in her scent of cinnamon and lavender. She smelt amazing to him and her hands were so small and soft in his large and rough ones that he felt almost disappointed that they were polar-opposites to one another.

_Surely opposites attract, right? _

She was quite and shy; the kindest person you'd ever meet and gentle to others.

He was loud and unexpected, always jumping head first into any situation without thinking first and he didn't have much control over his mouth when he spoke, he just couldn't shut up sometimes.

_But we could make this work, I'm positive! I'll make her confident; she makes me prim and proper whenever we're together anyways. This can work, plus , does it help I'm a stuttering mess when she's more unexpected than me?_

Their noses touched and she gasped softly, she didn't believe it, they were going to kiss!

_O-Oh my God, what should I d-do?! He's right here, he looks l-like he wants to d-do this as much as I do b-but…._

She could now feel his warm breath on hers, it was indescribable and it made her toes curl a little. Their lips were nearly there…

_S-So what if I love him and I want t-to k-k-kiss him this badly, but w-what if h-he's being overcome by the heat of the moment? This c-couldn't mean he loves me back… or could it?_

Their lips were just centimeters apart when Hanabi shouted to them.

"Hey guys, nice to seeing you- OH!"

They broke apart as quickly as they could and Hanabi could swear that it was Naruto's teleportation jutsu that was just recreated.

"H-Hanabi!"

"Geez Brat, don't scare us like that!"

Hanabi watched a pair of flabbergasted teens gasp and flush red, one hue deeper than the other before she sighed and facepalmed herself while sweat-dropping.

_How ironic_, she thought,_ two polar opposites. One's too shy to talk and the other too loud to listen and yet here they are blushing like a red-nosed reindeer, shouting at _me_ for interrupting. I wonder if they even knew that they were about to kiss._

"You two are just…" she looked at them again, shaking her head before all three of them turned their heads to a voice calling out Hanabi's name. "Well it's about time you got here Konohamaru, you just missed it. Our two 'role models' were just about to land their first kiss."

"H-Hey- "

"-Hanabi!"

"Alright boss!" shouted Konohamaru a bit too enthusiastically, "About time you and Hinata got together, he's been talking all about you-"

"W-What he meant was I was talking about what we could do together at this Carnival!" Naruto corrected, silencing his still smirking friend with a swift slap at the back of the head. "What are you guys doing here anyway, I thought the rides and thrills were in the other direction?"

"Yes, we were in the thrilling side of the carnival," Hanabi said, an eyebrow raised towards Naruto's action to Konohamaru, "but Konohamaru decided to take me here so that we can go dancing. He's been dying to take me to this place for ages now."

"That's right," Khonohamaru said grabbing Hanabi's hand and leading her off to a nearby restaurant. _Kigatsukimasen no Oji _was its name_, _"It's got the best music in the Five Great Nations and the food is phenomenal!"

Naruto and Hinata watched them run into the restaurant before they looked at each other and Naruto tilted his head and Hmm'd thoughtfully

"You know dinner sounds pretty good right about now and a proper date doesn't actually start until we enter a restaurant..."

"I-I…I guess…"

"What do 'ya say?" he raised and eyebrow at her and smiled, which promptly made her die in happiness in her mind.

"S-Sure Naruto," she answered him with pink dusting her cheeks, "I'd l-like that…"

She was breathless when he gave her his signature toothy grin and he took her hand in his, "Well then let's go have a proper date."

And just like that, they walked into Bokyaku no Oji hand-in-hand with dual blushes and smiles on their faces.

* * *

**THAT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**(*SCREAMS LIKE A GIRL)**

**I actually expected this to be my last chapter scincing they would both figure out that they love each other and then kiss and then boom! the story ends but then I thought of a fic I read a while back called: **_Learning_ **by **_ashez2ashes_ **, where at the end, they dance on water and then kiss so I thought I'd incorparate some dance into my fic, I hope that he won't think I'm copying him, I just agree with his aspect of them dancing because it naturally starts conversation and makes secrets or truth unravel and then romance occurs so please, if you're reading this, I'm not trying to copy you. (*holds up hands)**

**Please do RR , I've really enjoyed writing this story and thank you to 'Guest' for the mishi-mashi thingy I did back in chapter 2. I've edited it so that Naruto isn't asking her out on a date twice. **

**WORD BANK: **

**_Bokyaku no Oji(忘却の王子)-_ the oblivious prince or at least, that's what I meant it so spell out…**

**tell me if it's wrong please. SO, the next chapter is the ending, it's where naruto and hinata dance and kiss, then they live happily because well, they deserve it.**

**I tried to add some sasusaku to some extent, let me know if it was good (I have no clue how to do a sasusaku, they seem a bit too gothic in most of the one's I've read)**

**See you in the Finale!**


	5. Beginning Of A Beautiful Life- part 2

**Odd Beginning- Chapter 5 **

**Beginning Of A Beautiful Life – part 2**

Oh my... Ze Final Chapter...

**Alright guys, this will be the official end of 'Odd Beginning' and as sad as it is, I just want to say that I enjoyed writing it and that it wouldn't have been this much fun if people like you didn't read it and enjoy it as well. I'm glad to have awesome readers like you and thanks for making this fic such a success.**

**Onto the last chapter (*utters war cry)**

**P.S.- Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, I could never think of creating something as awesome as Naruto, I'm not Japanese for a start...**

* * *

Naruto and Hinata walked into the restaurant with wide eyes and to say that they were promptly flabbergasted, would be the right choice of words. The floors were polished and gleaming with a warm hue of mahogany, and Hinata couldn't detect a scratch anywhere on it; the building itself was enormous and looked like it was carved out of a piece of clay if the beautifully designed walls and breathless décor was any indication. The tables were ordinarily designed like common rectangular and squared tops with the exception of the spiraling oak design of the legs with small topaz, emerald and onyx stones embedded into the sides of the tables. Naruto gazed at the ceiling with an amazed expression, the chandeliers hung like twisted kunai: bent, burnt, crystallized and hung onto breathtakingly gorgeous staffs and swords with hot glass designs fastened to the high ceiling with light bulbs at their ends. It looked like it came out of a fantasy novel. Some would say that weaponry as décor wouldn't mix but if they had seen what Naruto was looking at right now, they would have though it was stolen from an art exhibition.

"Wow…"

They both uttered in unison before a waiter dressed in a smart-casual pair of black jeans, a sleeveless cardigan and a bowler hat approached them with two menus in his hand and smiled at them.

"Welcome there strangers, I see you two are already drooling at the look of our restaurant, huh?" he said in a warm and pleasant tone.

For a second, Hinata wondered how it was possible that the waiter before them looked so otherworldly as opposed the the rest if the carnival before smiling back and replying, "H-Hello, we were just amazed at how beautiful this restaurant looks as compared to the others we've seen today and in the Leaf Village."

"Yes, it's quite spectacular looking from the inside," the waiter said looking around him, "Pretty hard to believe that this is what a carnival calls average restaurants, I wonder what their definition of spectacular is." He chuckled lightly.

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto asked bewildered, "It looks like this place came out of a dream!"

The waiter laughed, brushing a strand of his black hair away from his eyes, "What can I say really? Bokyaku no Oji is supposedly a mystery of a place judging by the name and now that you've seen the place for yourself, that theory's proven."

Naruto and Hinata looked at one another before glancing around the restaurant in front of them in awe, they've never quite seen anything as spectacular, in terms of restaurants, and they hoped the food would taste as mysteriously good as they restaurant appeared.

"Oh!" the waiter shouted, breaking the couple from their thoughts, "I will be your waiter for tonight, my name is Arubato." He said slightly embarrassed, light pink dusting his fair skin-tone.

"Hi there, I'm Naruto," Naruto said with a wide smile, "And this lovely lady to my right," he said putting his right arm around Hinata and holding her close which earned him a deep blush that made Arubato laugh at, "Is Hinata."

Their waiter looked at the two of them with a smile, his light brown eyes sparkling in the dimly lit restaurant and he showed them to their table, making sure to hand them a small leaflet each that explained the history and nature of the wondrous restaurant they sat in. He explained that Bokyaku no Oji was created shortly after the Fourth Shinobi War to accommodate Shinobi and civilians alike and give off this glorious and intriguing atmosphere so that it would ease the patron's minds and make them forget about the War that had passed; instead offering to take care of the customer and make them enjoy their time with food, dancing and playful interaction between the staff, the interactive areas in the restaurant and the other customer's around them, and to top it all off, Bokyaku no Oji was meant to be the most affordable restaurant available so that anyone can have a good time and that it didn't have a specific type of dress code. Something many people antagonised over.

"Wow, so how do you guys actually keep afloat with being the most affordable, surely all this décor and food must come to a fortune?" Naruto asked a little intrigued.

"Yes, it does come to a substantial amount but Bokyaku-san, the founder of this restaurant is quite a wealthy man. Besides, he cares more for people's enjoyment than petty things like money. He has a good heart, I like to think."

"T-That's wonderful. I'm sure h-he's a great man." Hinata said smiling.

Their waiter looked at Hinata for a moment and then smiled, "Yes, he is."

"Wait a minute," Naruto said frowning slightly, "His name is Bokyaku?"

"Surname," their waiter corrected, "Odd name, I know. But don't we all need some weirdness in our lives?" Arubato shrugged and then handed them two menus, "Anyways, here are your menus to order from, when you two are done, just ringing this bell," he took out a small silver bell from his pocket, "And I'll be right over to take your orders."

"Thanks a lot," Naruto replied taking the bell from him and placing it on the table, "We'll be sure to do just that."

And with that, their waiter bowed quickly and walked away. The couple noticed him stopping suddenly and adjusting the door mat before walking on and doing some type of dance with his feet, tripping, getting back up and adjusting his cardigan and walking off as quickly as possible.

This place was extraordinarily conceived and its waiters' were even more of a mystery, Naruto thought before turning to Hinata and smiling at her, lavender orb's roaming around the vast restaurants like a lost puppy.

"Can you believe this place Hinata? It's almost like stepping back into a dream except you're not unconscious."

"Y-Yes, it's quite a-amazing here…"

They sat in silence for a few moments to take in the unexplainable feel of the place and to just steady themselves from the sudden excitement bubbling up in their chests. Who would have thought of a place like this unless they were crazy and too imaginative? Their answer, Bokyaku-san - as Arubato had stated - the creator of this fine establishment.

"So, uh… how has today been for you?" Naruto asked a bit nervously. To be honest, he didn't know how to talk to Hinata after that interrupted kiss that had taken place not so long ago.

"W-Well... I-I enjoyed it very m-much Naruto." Hinata replied with a squeak.

How was she going to even look at him after she'd tried to kiss him? It had failed and now things where even more awkward than before. She tried to calm herself however and smiled at him weakly, "Y-You showed me a r-really good time today. I really e-enjoyed spening time with Naruto…"

She saw him smile brightly which made her blush even more before he tilted his head to the side, "I like the look you've had stuck on your face from the time we arrived here."

"W-Wha-

"Really, I've enjoyed today with you Hinata," He cut her off, "I've never been so happy in a long time. This was possibly my most enjoyable day out somewhere and to be honest, I'm glad we did this. you're really fun to be around and you make me smile a lot, I really like that." he finished taking her hand in his over the table and she flushed red.

"T-T-Thank you…. I've also enjoyed today with you Naruto. You've been one of the greatest things I've ever looked forward to seeing." She stopped herself quickly before she said anything else that wasn't meant to be said. She couldn't believe it; she'd just told him what he meant to her and without stuttering! She didn't know whether to jump in triumph or berate herself for the accidental leak in information.

Naruto nearly shouted in happiness at her confession. He was bursting like a balloon that was fed too much helium and his mind was going numb. He nearly felt like a fool for getting all hyped up by just a small compliment that probably meant nothing, but to him, this was the greatest compliment and slip of her feelings that he'd ever received and he'd be damned if he let it go and didn't celebrate just a small bit at the thought that someone loved him.

_I can't believe it, oh my gosh, this is freaking amazing! It's a damn miracle that she just confessed like that, what do I do know then? I must be looking like a blushing idiot_...

In Hinata's eyes, Naruto's expression after her slip-up of a confession was relatively smug if she didn't scrutinize him properly. He wasn't shocked as far as she could tell and for some reason she felt slightly worried at that but at the same time, quite relieved but then again, one can never really estimate the actions of the number one most unpredictable ninja.

_W-Wait… i-is…is he grinning at me?_

He was, and it was broadening by the second into one of the most beautiful smiles she had ever seen from Naruto, he was blushing slightly but it was completely overshadowed by the smile he was showing that looked as if he was making the dimly-lit restaurant shine with the warmth and happiness in that smile of his and Hinata had to blush, the smile was directed to _her _anyways…

"N-Naruto…" she had to break the silence, even though it was so comfortable and warm, she had to say something, "D-Did I s-say something wrong?"

She saw his smile increase even more and he titled his head to the side, making her melt at how cute he looked and she felt like jumping into his arms right then and there. Wait, what? She couldn't do that! Not while they were here in public. It would be too embarrassing, too forward. Then _again_, his arms looked _oh-so _inviting to her pale eyes… That smile looked a little devious to her and in actual fact, she didn't know whether to be excited or worried.

"Hinata," she shivered slightly at how her name sounded rolling off his tongue, "Why is it that every time we talk," he put his hands on the table and looked down, still smiling like the happy fool he was, "We end up leaving our conversations in some type of weird but comfortable silence?" he looked up at her, his eyes sparkling like sapphires in the light.

"U-Uh… M-Maybe it's because we have an o-odd relationship," Hinata was transfixed by Naruto's gaze that she could hardly speak. "Are… Are you alright Naruto? You seem v-very happy…"

"Hah," he replied leaning back and resuming his usual demeanor and sighing. "I was just testing a theory of mine Hina. It seems I was right."

"W-What theory?" she was secretly glad he seemed to be acting normal again, that smile and smooth talk of his that he displayed earlier would have caused her to explode with another confession, had he continued it. She just had to play it cool now, there was really nothing to worry about. She could do this, right?

"Well, I have this theory that I was tinkering with throughout the day. I was trying to prove it and to be honest, I thought the trace would go cold but-"

Naruto was interrupted by a not-so-soft growl that came surprisingly from Hinata's stomach that made her turn the brightest shade of scarlet Naruto had ever seen, and saw her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. He grinned and tilted his head to the side.

"Well, I guess someone's hungry!" he was smiling brightly now at Hinata's embarrassment and rather glad, he was feeling quite hungry himself.

Hinata couldn't believe herself and she felt like disappearing and regretted embarrassing herself in front of Naruto of all people, and to top it all off, the blonde was_ still_ _smiling _at her!

_Oh my God this is so embarrassing! What do I do now?! He's probably going to leave now, oh why do I have to mess up so badly all the time?_

"Aw, don't look so worried there Hinata, we all get hungry at some point," he said reassuringly, placing his hand on hers and making her blush yet again. "I'm just shocked that you didn't say so sooner, starving yourself like that could kill you!"

So Naruto rang his bell and they waited for their spontaneous waiter to take their order with smiles on each of their faces and a warm feeling in both of their hearts. When their waiter had arrived and taken their order, they delved into conversation about how dreamy the restaurant was and they both laughed at one of the waiters walking past with a clown mask and a puppet on his arm berating him about looking where he was going before he walked into the girls' bathroom because he was busy ogling at a magazine that consisted of cooking recipes.

After a while, their waiter arrived with their food and conversed with them again while they ate. The pair fired off questions about who the chef was and how the food at Bokyaku no Oji was so heavenly in their mouths, to which Arubato just laughed and said that the restaurant used love in every dish served.

"My, my, my…" Naruto said with a huff, "I can't believe how good that food was."

"Y-Yes, it was quite e-extraordinary and a-a-appetizing. Give our regards to t-the chef please."

Their waiter looked at the two of them with an amused look before handing Naruto the bill and walking off with a nod, singing merrily to himself as a few waiters joined in and made the whole restaurant stop and listen to the waiter's perform their vocal cover. The patrons clapped and cheered the waiters' on and the song ended shortly after with Arubato walking back to Naruto and Hinata and sighing loudly.

"I had to let off some emotions there, sorry for stopping the conversation so quickly."

Naruto and Hinata looked at one another before laughing and shaking their heads.

"If you sing like that every time you serve someone, then I'll hire you to serve me for the rest of my life!" Naruto shouted with a broad grin and handed Arubato back the bill that had consuderably more bank notes in it than it should have had. Arubato looked down at the bill and widened his eyes at Naruto, looking up quickly.

"This is such a large tip, are you sure you didn't miscalculate? The bill wasn't that substantial after all." He asked with a nervous expression.

Naruto and Hinata got up from their seats and stood side-by-side, Naruto's arm draped around Hinata and he smiled at him softly, "You earned it. Besides, anyone that can serve us with humor and show us a good time with food and conversation like that deserves that much money _and _more."

Arubato tilted his head and smiled at them in thanks, "Well then," he cleared his throat, "Why doesn't the lovely couple go out for a dance in our ball-room? It's absolutely serene for you guys to ease the events of the day off and you two _should_ dance. I think you would look rather pleasant together on that floor." He finished pointing towards the left of the building.

"Thanks Arubato, have a good night."

And with that, Naruto led Hinata to the ball-room and was about to take her onto the dance-floor but was stopped by Hinata tugging his arm. He stopped walking and turned to her and saw her staring at the floor a bit apprehensive. He frowned and walked up to her, lifting up her chin with his hand and gazing into her eyes, waiting patiently for her to answer.

"I… I-I've never d-danced before N-Naruto." she looked away from him, ashamed of herself but he then placed his hand on her cheek reassuringly, making her look back at him.

"I've never been one to dance either, Hina," he looked down and took her other hand in his, raising it up and placing it on his shoulder. "I do know some positions and moves, though. Maybe if we just tried to enjoy ourselves instead of worrying about how we look, dancing without a clue, we'd manage something acceptable. What do you say?" He stared into her lavender orbs, seeing her nervousness fade away slowly and her confidence bloom.

Hinata was lost in Naruto's eyes. Those azure pools that had previously just made her breathless had now stolen her heart with their confidence and kindness. It was powerful, so powerful that a bit of his confidence seeped into her body like a kindling flame, slowly burning and spreading like wild-fire throughout her from her core to the tips of her toes and fingers.

"N-Naruto…" she breathed out silently. She knew he heard it from the soft smile he gave her and he place one hand on the small of her back, pulling her close and making her gasp at how close they were. He took his hand away from her face and grasped her unoccupied hand, bringing it up in his and intertwining their fingers together as he walked backwards to the varnished dance-floor, gently pulling her with him.

"Just look at me Hinata, feel my movements and follow them, alright?" he asked.

She nodded slightly, her mouth ajar and her eyes locked onto Naruto's. He squeezed her hand slightly and they slowly moved back, into the dance-floor where other dancers and their partners were busy dancing like star-crossed lovers. Soft music was playing but ended when they came to the dance-floor and a different song played, **_Fall Again_ **by **_Glenn Lewis_ **was airing and it was just _perfect_.

Naruto's right leg moved back and Hinata's followed gracefully. His other leg followed suit and Hinata joined, their bodies both coming back and swinging to the side as Naruto turned, making Hinata knock into him slightly before she saw the blond smile and they continued. With each step Naruto took, Hinata followed; every time he turned, she turned with him and every time he breathed out, she would take in a breath. Their movements were almost in perfect harmony with each other that all the other people on the dance-floor stopped and started to watch the couple before them with shocked and happy expressions of their faces. The blonde boy they saw before them looked strong and independent and the small girl in his arms delicate, gorgeous and loving. They looked like a couple out of a love story and they wouldn't be wrong.

The two moved faster, their eyes still gazing into one another, transfixed in wonder, and their hearts beat in sync, thumping harmoniously along with the song before them. Hinata couldn't believe what she was doing. Dancing with Naruto Uzumaki? How obscene! And now that they were actually dancing in a restaurant of all places, with a whole bunch of people staring at them, she realized that they were probably a dancing mess!

Her eyes were beginning to stray from Naruto and were focusing on the ground below them but Naruto quickly caught her attention again.

"Hinata," she instantly snapped her head up to look at him again. "Don't look down, don't even look away. You'll be fine, don't worry. Just look at me." He winked at her and he saw pink dusting her cheeks before he chuckled and suddenly twirled her, shocking her but she obliged anyway, twisting her body with his hand guiding her and he brought her back to him and dipped her, her body lowly hanging from his, and he quickly pulled her back until she ended up leaning her hands against his chest and gazing into his eyes, both of them breathing deeply.

Hinata breathed deeply and stared into the deep blue pools of Naruto's eyes, gasping softly when she saw the love hidden behind the sadness of those beautiful eyes of his. At that moment, Hinata thought she could see into his soul. She saw the pain of his past, gazed into the happy and sad moments of his life and finally rested her gaze on the love, admiration and joy that he held for her. And at that moment, Hinata came to another realization.

_Naruto doesn't have a crush on me. Naruto **l-l-l-loves** **me!** _

She was frozen. Unable to do anything else but stare into his eyes in what she thought was pleasure or shock.

Naruto was astonished. How could he have made her dance so perfectly in his arms? How wonderful had she felt in his arms and how loudly had his heart raced when she gave him that look of shock? He thought he knew everything there was to know about Hinata Hyuuga but he was sorely mistaken. In fact, this was literally the first time that he was actually _glad_ that he was wrong. But when she came back up from that dip, he saw something that he had never seen before and was quite literally scared and amazed at the same time. Those eyes of hers. Those pale, lavendertinted orbs that looked fierce in every other Hyuuga's head yet so gentle, loving and gorgeous in hers. He saw past that though…

Naruto had discovered more than just her feelings, Naruto had discovered her _heart_. In that moment, Naruto saw her whole life. He saw her personality, experienced her hurt, pain, felt her happiness and joy and most of all, Naruto found her love. She had always been weird in his eyes, always the odd one out just like him. His polar opposite yet his equal, his perfect definition. She was what he was secretly hiding; she was the emotions that he showed to _no one_. He couldn't believe it but Naruto just figured it out.

_She's just like me…. _

All the stuttering, the feelings of weakness, the quietness… she was brought down by her whole family and she was **_never_ **understood by anyone because she was too scared to let her guard down and let out her emotions in fear of being hurt even more. She was exactly what he wanted, exactly the kind of person he was searching for, a person that knew his pain. She was his cure, his answer to _everything._

_I see the love you hold for me Hinata. I see the feelings you have built up that have never been released before. I share your pain, and I know the mask you wear to hide yourself from more hurt from the world. I promise you…. I promise…._

And then it was decided. They both knew exactly what they to do at that moment and just like that, the doors of an odd beginning began to creak open.

"N-Naruto…"

"...Hinata"

Before they could utter any more words, the crowd of dancers before them all burst into a bout of cheers and applause, completely distracting them from the moment that was about to become theirs to remember forever.

They saw whole groups of girls and guys begin to run toward both Naruto and Hinata with looks of want in their eyes.

"We should run."

"Y-Yes."

"On three?"

"O-One…"

"Two…"

Just as the two groups were about to collide with the couple, Naruto quickly wrapped his left arm around Hinata and she grasped his body tightly before they both disappeared from sight, making the crowds stop and shout in disappointment.

* * *

Near the Head of the Fourth Hokage, two figures suddenly popped into existence and started laughing loudly, disturbing the birds near them and causing them to fly away. Cawing madly in annoyance.

"Can you believe it? You really can dance Hinata!"

"It was from y-your help that I-I managed to, though."

"I think I make a good dance instructor, don't you?" Naruto asked looking at her, smiling. "I should train you some more. Tomorrow maybe…."

Hinata giggled at him and they both looked into each others eyes before looking away, pink dusting both of their cheeks.

"T-Thank you Naruto," Hinata said and she watched Naruto turn to look at her with curious eyes. "I had a wonderful t-time today with you... I'm a-also glad we went d-dancing, otherwise I would have n-n-never had such a heart-stopping experience and-"

"Hinata…" he interrupted her, bringing his hand up and gently cupping her face.

"Y-Y-Yes?" she asked blushing brightly.

"Let time do its job." He said and just as gently leaned his head towards Hinata and captured her lips in a soft but firm kiss.

Hinata froze at the contact. This wasn't unexpected but she didn't expect it to feel this good! She leaned into the kiss and grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt, pulling him closer and her blush intensified. She expected Naruto to break the kiss at her brave and forward action but instead he wrapped his left arm around her waist again and brought her body to his, stuck together like glue. Their bodies flush against one another. The kiss intensified and she felt him bring up his right hand to play with her silky hair, massaging her scalp with his fingers and making her sigh into the kiss.

Naruto was in heaven. He could feel the softness of her lips against his and the feel of her curvy body. She fit perfectly in his arms and he was loving every moment that she was pulling him closer and leaning even deeper into their kiss.

_So this is what love feels like… How beautiful._

Hinata was sure she was going to die from the amount of pleasure she was getting from Naruto kissing her. She was in Naruto's arms and thoroughly enjoying him massaging her head and kissing her with the most amount of love and affection she'd seen him give anyone. His lips were like an antidote to her sickness of hopelessness and he was the pillar of strength in her life, she would never stop loving him and now she knew how badly he loved her. She was truly happy, absolutely and completely at peace.

_S-So this is w-what the **real** Naruto Uzumaki feels like…. **Amazing**._

Naruto and Hinata pulled away slowly and let go of one another; Naruto's arm retracting from Hinata's scalp and his left hand lowering from her waist; Hinata's hands loosening their hold on Naruto's shirt and she brought her hands back to her sides only to start pressing her index fingers together, a habit that she had forgotten but that Naruto would no doubt bring back.

Naruto opened his eyes after he'd broken the kiss and saw Hinata's face, still blushing and pouting cutely after their kiss. They both stood in an awkward silence and she looked at him with a deep blush that made him blush as well and they both came back together as Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek before hugging him tightly. Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, breathing in her scent of lavender and cinnamon before laughing softly to himself.

"You know, even after a whole day of eating sweets, drinking odd concoctions and sweating from dancing and you still smell like cinnamon," he pulled her off him to look at her properly. "How many of those buns do you really munch before you go out of your house?" he asked in with a curious and confused expression.

She flushed red and giggled, "I guess it just stays on me like the smell of ramen does on you."

"Well that's arguable."

They both smiled at each other and Naruto leaned down and kissed her cheek, "I think I finally know what love is..."

He saw her stiffen and look at him with wide eyes, "I think I finally know it t-too." She said and pressed her lips against his again, re-wrapping her arms around his neck, making him catch her by hugging her waist tightly and kissing back.

It was a romantic sight if anyone had to come across it while going for a late night stroll and it was a lovely sight; a couple kissing fiercely on top of the Hokage monument… or was that considered indecent in public?

Naruto imagined everyone they knew going berserk tomorrow after he announced that he and Hinata were officially dating but he didn't really care. All that mattered was that he was there with Hinata: the love of his life.

It was a strange bonding, and an even stranger start of their relationship but what could one expect when watching a shy Hyuuga and a loud Uzumaki interact and even fall in _love_ with one another. It was and Odd Beginning….. _Their_ Odd Beginning……

**END**

* * *

**THAT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! (*TEARS OF JOY)**

**I feel like the kid I was so many years ago that wrote this in… what? 2016? Bah, who cares, it was a success!**

**I thought the dance part wasn't as properly fleshed out as I would have hoped but I at least got the point across.**

**Tell me your likes and dislikes; I'd love to hear from all of you. So from the newbie that just wrote this fanfiction, I'd like to say thanks for reading and peace out!**

**Saiyounara and Merry Christmas!!!!!**


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